Retired animal welfare officer Debbie Masters has deemed the racetrack at Vesey Street as “unsafe” and “unsuitable” for harness racing.And she has backed calls for a more suitable facility to be found for harness racing to prevent accidents such as the one that claimed the life of a pony last weekend from reoccurring.Robert Lopes’ colt Shadow Play died instantly after being involved in a three-horse pile up during the last round of the Bermuda CableVision Friday Night Series.“It’s a very sad thing that happened but these ponies are the fastest in North America and that track is not designed for a pony that can go around that track in 1:02 flat,” Masters said. “You have three ponies racing side by side in a tight space which is all corners and there’s nowhere for them to go or pull out even to avoid an accident.“They need to have a safe track somewhere and that’s not it. They (Driving Horse and Pony Club) have been asking for a bigger track for a long time and I’m sure there’s other places where a track would be more suitable.”Masters, 66, said she doesn’t recall any accidents involving harness ponies at the former racetrack at Shelly Bay.“I never saw any accidents with the harness racers because Shelly Bay was a huge track and they had plenty of room to accommodate them,” she added. “Harness racing was safer back in the day at Shelly Bay and that’s the ideal place to accommodate this type of racing.“Vesey Street is more for the equestrians and show jumping. They have this little track on the side where in the beginning people were going to jog ponies — but it wasn’t designed to bring in these fast ponies to race on it.”Last week’s accident triggered a wave of criticism from members of the public, with some going as far as to condemn harness racing as “cruel, abusive and inhumane”.Masters disagreed.“People will say it’s cruel but it’s not because the ponies love it,” she said. “They are born to race but they need to have a more safer environment.“The guys do care about the ponies. These ponies are well looked after and a lot of the drivers do consider them family.”As well as finding a more suitable racetrack, Masters wants to see additional safety measures implemented for drivers.“I want to see more safety gear for everybody but especially teenagers,” she said. “They have helmets on but they should be also wearing back braces and other gear to protect them.“I don’t know if they do it here but in the US teenage drivers are supervised and go through a tough criteria. They are strict about eliminating accidents. Accidents will happen but you want to try and prevent them as much as you can.”